"Intelligent design" is a religious theory that was inserted in a school district's curriculum with no concern for whether it had scientific underpinnings, a lawyer told a federal judge Monday as a landmark trial got under way. ... But in his opening statement, the school district's attorney defended Dover's policy of requiring ninth-grade students to hear a brief statement about intelligent design before biology classes on evolution.

"This case is about free inquiry in education, not about a religious agenda," argued Patrick Gillen of the Thomas More Law Center in Ann Arbor, Michigan. ... The center, which lobbies for what it sees as the religious freedom of Christians, is defending the school district....

Intelligent design, a concept some scholars have advanced over the past 15 years, holds that Charles Darwin's theory of natural selection cannot fully explain the origin of life or the emergence of highly complex life forms. It implies that life on Earth was the product of an unidentified intelligent force.

Yaawwwnnnn.........

Last weekend I got in to a bar discussion with someone I thought was reasonably intelligent concerning the topic of evolution and just as we began talking about the difference between Intelligent Design and evolution, the following conversation took place-

Me:"You can do that with evolution too. Ever heard of a flu-strain becoming immune to anti-biotics?"

Her:"That doesn't prove that man descended from monkeys!!"

Me:"Sigh...That's because we didn't "descend" from monkeys. Both monkeys and humans evolved from a common ancestor."

Her:"Well, how do you prove that mammals came from fish?"

Me:"By studying the multiple examples of transitional fossils. By the way, what evidence does the intelligent designer have?"

Her:"Umm....the bible says that God created man."

Me:"So that's your proof. "God created man" is your evidence."

Her:"The bible has many facts in it, like the flood of Genesis."

Me:"The Flood of Genesis? Are you freaking kidding me? Noah's Ark? You're seriously suggesting that Lions and rabbits and tigers (oh my!) all huddled together on some wooden boat peacefully while a gigantic storm was going on? Do you even hear what you're suggesting?"

Her:"Well, maybe the Noahs Ark stuff is a little much, but the flood definitely happened."

Me:"Yeah, well that's great. Keep it out of a science discussion. One doesn't need faith to discuss science."

Her:"You just hate religion."

Me:"I think it's kind of silly, but I don't hate it or people who have faith in their Gods. Whatever floats your boat...and by the way, what does that have to do with showing me that evolution is only a theory?"

Her:"...But don't you think the odds are against us randomly evolving in to such complicated higher beings? Doesn't it seem like there was an intelligent designer at work?"

Me:"Again, odds have nothing to do with it. And it certainly wasn't random. Humans utilized advantages of their body-type to survive more effectively. But that doesn't mean it was "designed" per se. Some argue that the human eye for example is hardly a superior design."

Her:"......So you don't believe in God?"

Me:".......It has nothing to do with the question. Prior to the big bang, I have no scientific evidence to support a theory about the origins of life. And neither do you. After that however, I have buildings full of various hard physical evidence that document the rise of organisms through evolution. You have nothing."

I about had enough at this point, because she continued to flap about God and heaven and destiny and so forth, none of which has anything to do with what we originally discussed.

You would think this stuff would go away after it gets repeatedly debunked.

You would be wrong. There is an abundance of ignorance when it comes to evolution. If she wasn't so cute I probably wouldn't have bothered, but hey it was late, I'd been drinking and believe it or not I like to argue stuff when I'm drinking.

No comments:

About Me

Tennessee Southern Yankee Blog with spiritual, political, philosophical and irrelevant opinion. Also including occasional Tennessee Titans, Boston Red Sox, Boston Celtics and Nashville Predators comments, along with whatever else I'm pondering..And I freak out about Asteroids hitting the planet every once in a while. So you've been warned......"There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home." ... --Ken Olson, president, chairman and founder of DEC 1977